76 Making the American Thoroughbred 



Leviathan's family connections were therefore of the 

 best. 



Leviathan was 16 hands high, a deep chestnut, "with 

 a peculiar shade of deep red interspersed"; his only mark 

 a narrow blaze. Most of his get followed him in color. 

 He was bred by Mr. Painter and made his debut on the 

 turf in 1825. "At two years old," wrote Col. George 

 Elliott, "he ran two races; won one, and lost one, subse- 

 quently beating the winner; at three years old he won 

 nine in succession, and was not beaten; at four years old 

 he ran nine races, won seven; lost one to Dr. Faustus, 

 whom he had previously beaten, and one to Paul Pry 

 (by bolting) whom he had also beaten, and beat after- 

 wards. He was handicapped in this year and ordered to 

 carry 7 Ibs. extra weight over horses of his age, conclusive 

 proof of his superiority." 



Only one of these races was of 4-mile heats. 



On Sept. i, 1827, Leviathan "walked over" in a 3-mile 

 heat race, after which his then owner, Mr. Giffard, sold 

 him to the King of England for 2,000 guineas. On his 

 arrival at Newmarket the King's trainer discovered that 

 his legs were injured. The Duke of Grafton, who con- 

 ducted one of the finest studs in the kingdom, was anxious 

 to buy Leviathan but he was sent to Windsor and remained 

 idle all during 1828. In 1829 one experiment showed his 

 career on the turf was over and he was sold to Lord 

 Chesterfield, who stood him the season of 1830. In that 

 year he was purchased by the Messrs. Weatherby for 

 James Jackson and was placed under the care of Maj. 

 Geo. A. Wyllie (son-in-law of Col. George Elliott) at 

 Lord Chesterfield's. After a tedious passage of 51 

 days he was landed at New York on Aug 30, 1830, 

 and was taken by Wyllie to his home in Virginia to 

 recuperate. He reached the farm of Col. Elliott on 



